Nottingham Forest transfer one step closer as £16.5m star gives the green light, but there’s a catch

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Nottingham Forest’s pursuit of Yoane Wissa and Matheus Cunha is well-documented but other attacking options remain available for Nuno Espirito Santo.

With Forest preparing a club-record bid for Cunha, the saga of signing the Brazilian looks set to be the headline story of the club’s January window as we edge closer to deadline day.

It makes sense that Cunha has become the primary focus as Brentford rejected Forest’s approach for Wissa, making the Wolves man seem the easier of the two deals to complete for Evangelos Marinakis.

Marinakis wants to sign a striker in January to support Chris Wood on the goal-scoring front so he is likely to push the Molineux side all the way in an attempt to match Wolves’ new transfer value for Cunha.

However, going into the window, interest from Forest in signing a winger was also heavily rumoured, with one option in particular seemingly very open to a move to the City Ground.

Baris Yilmaz ‘warmly welcomes’ Nottingham Forest interest

Forest were keen on Baris Yilmaz heading into January but the striker targets always seemed the more important of the potential deals this month.

As it turns out, though, Yilmaz is extremely keen on a move to Forest according to a report by Turkish outlet, Yeni Safak.

The report stated that Yilmaz “warmly welcomes” any interest from Forest, after impressing multiple Premier League sides with his performances at the European Championships in 2024.

He was one of the bright sparks of an incredibly attacking Turkish side, earning man of the match in his nation’s group-stage victory against Czechia.

The Turkish media had also reported that Forest had a bid rejected for Yilmaz in January so the interest from Marinakis doesn’t look set to disappear, but there is one important catch in any January pursuit of the Galatasaray winger.

Galatasaray are reluctant to see Baris Yilmaz leave in January

According to Sabah, Galatasaray are unwilling to let Yilmaz leave in the January window, with a summer deal being much more appealing to the Turkish giants.

West Ham have been circling alongside Forest for Yilmaz, but both clubs will need to remain patient if they are truly set on signing the winger who has found the net 11 times so far this season.

Waiting for the summer is probably the ideal scenario for the Forest owner as the pursuit of Cunha will require a significant sum of money to complete, likely leaving no funds available for Yilmaz.

With Espirito Santo and his Forest coaching staff continuing to chase down the dream of European football, adding Yilmaz at the end of the season as an extra attacking dimension could be key to help maintain the forward momentum on display at the City Ground.